This is definitely one of my goals to be this confident around the cones. It helps greatly to review footage of my own rides whenever I can, to see where I'm loosing time. I know I'm loosing a lot around cones, by braking too much and not trusting and leaning enough to get around at the higher speed.

Its weird. I can get my knee down by just doing circles, but going around the cone, the perception changes greatly, and everything feels to be moving much faster. I know we had guys scraping their footpegs, going around cones this summer. Not due to bad form, but being fast through the course. I don't think I ever scraped a peg yet. At least not going around the cone.

Its a joy to see these guys though, so smooth.

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Going through a course everything is moving, but also direction changes so often as opposed to going in circles. It comes down to a trust in the grip. (this is julius btw) For new guys it's not enough trust, when we slide it's too much trust lol. I remember towards the end of November where you damaged your rear brake pedal you had a lot of confidence in both your tires. In warmer circumstances you definitely would have made that turn.

Looking back to when I first started with you guys I didn't have much trust in the grip of the front tire with my CBR. Then after the third session I had a lot more trust in in it. The michelin's on my R6 have superior grip to my CBR stock touring tires, but I don't have what people call "feel" for the front tire's grip as I do with the CBR. Now with my new bike I'm having to learn how the stock bridgestones feel. Sucks we can't go to the limit in this temperature.

These guys in the video know that the tire won't slide at this speed with this lean and braking force. :eek1 I think it takes a few slippery experiences (not necessarily lowsiding) to truly understand where the limit of grip lies. The toughest place to trust the grip is a sharp change of direction after a long fast sweeper. The place I have most trouble in and hope to improve are consecutive tightspace haipins. 62 days to spring, should work on my trailbraking as much as I can.

Yeah, my priority above everything else at this point, is to find a suitable spot for us. If we can do our sessions uninterrupted, we should have a very exciting season this summer.

I have a couple of ideas that I want to try, to involve more people remotely, if they do not have somebody to practice Gymkhana with locally, but still want to compete and be involved in this sport. Should be fun, but it all revolves around us actually being able to do this without interruptions.

Yeah, my priority above everything else at this point, is to find a suitable spot for us. If we can do our sessions uninterrupted, we should have a very exciting season this summer.

I have a couple of ideas that I want to try, to involve more people remotely, if they do not have somebody to practice Gymkhana with locally, but still want to compete and be involved in this sport. Should be fun, but it all revolves around us actually being able to do this without interruptions.

Oh no, my idea was much simpler. Its basically a continuation of the GP8 idea. So far GP8 is sort of a benchmark simply because its very simple to set-up, film and the dimensions are set, so anybody can recreate it and compare their times to everybody else.

So my idea was in parallel to our local season and competition, do a monthly obstacle. Create a small course with 4-5 cones, post the exact dimensions of that course online, and have people recreate it, run and film it, and then post the results. So it wouldn't be a live interaction like you would get with a Google hangout, but I think it would encourage people to compete with others remotely like that, especially if they currently do not have anybody locally to run Gymkhana.

We will be running these monthly obstacles here in NY as well, so there will always be a baseline for people to beat/compare to.

Each month it will be a new obstacle. It just has to be very simple to set up. I'm thinking something along the lines of a square, with four cones at each corner, and one in the middle. So the cone configuration would stay the same, but the pattern would change each month.

We've (you Bama guys, UK guys and us here in NY) been doing this for a while now, we already have a number of obstacles that we've shared with each other and tried, there is plenty of video clips of people trying stuff out. So all this would do, is just organize it a little bit more.

We have people from all over the world in our FB group, who are following our posts and events, so the interest is there. I know I personally would have loved having something like this, when I was starting out, and was running GP8 all by myself. I'm hoping that if somebody picks this up and starts running the monthly courses and setting them up, that will generate more interest from their local riders, so they can find someone to ride with locally, faster.

Oh no, my idea was much simpler. Its basically a continuation of the GP8 idea. So far GP8 is sort of a benchmark simply because its very simple to set-up, film and the dimensions are set, so anybody can recreate it and compare their times to everybody else.

So my idea was in parallel to our local season and competition, do a monthly obstacle. Create a small course with 4-5 cones, post the exact dimensions of that course online, and have people recreate it, run and film it, and then post the results. So it wouldn't be a live interaction like you would get with a Google hangout, but I think it would encourage people to compete with others remotely like that, especially if they currently do not have anybody locally to run Gymkhana.

We will be running these monthly obstacles here in NY as well, so there will always be a baseline for people to beat/compare to.

Each month it will be a new obstacle. It just has to be very simple to set up. I'm thinking something along the lines of a square, with four cones at each corner, and one in the middle. So the cone configuration would stay the same, but the pattern would change each month.

We've (you Bama guys, UK guys and us here in NY) been doing this for a while now, we already have a number of obstacles that we've shared with each other and tried, there is plenty of video clips of people trying stuff out. So all this would do, is just organize it a little bit more.

We have people from all over the world in our FB group, who are following our posts and events, so the interest is there. I know I personally would have loved having something like this, when I was starting out, and was running GP8 all by myself. I'm hoping that if somebody picks this up and starts running the monthly courses and setting them up, that will generate more interest from their local riders, so they can find someone to ride with locally, faster.

What do you think?

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Excellent!
I like the idea of a monthly Google hangout too. Gives more instant interaction but could be more difficult to do. It is worth giving it a go I think.

Both ideas will help to promote and expand Gymkhana into the main stream of the general motorcycling community.

Oh no, my idea was much simpler. Its basically a continuation of the GP8 idea. So far GP8 is sort of a benchmark simply because its very simple to set-up, film and the dimensions are set, so anybody can recreate it and compare their times to everybody else.

So my idea was in parallel to our local season and competition, do a monthly obstacle. Create a small course with 4-5 cones, post the exact dimensions of that course online, and have people recreate it, run and film it, and then post the results. So it wouldn't be a live interaction like you would get with a Google hangout, but I think it would encourage people to compete with others remotely like that, especially if they currently do not have anybody locally to run Gymkhana.

We will be running these monthly obstacles here in NY as well, so there will always be a baseline for people to beat/compare to.

Each month it will be a new obstacle. It just has to be very simple to set up. I'm thinking something along the lines of a square, with four cones at each corner, and one in the middle. So the cone configuration would stay the same, but the pattern would change each month.

We've (you Bama guys, UK guys and us here in NY) been doing this for a while now, we already have a number of obstacles that we've shared with each other and tried, there is plenty of video clips of people trying stuff out. So all this would do, is just organize it a little bit more.

We have people from all over the world in our FB group, who are following our posts and events, so the interest is there. I know I personally would have loved having something like this, when I was starting out, and was running GP8 all by myself. I'm hoping that if somebody picks this up and starts running the monthly courses and setting them up, that will generate more interest from their local riders, so they can find someone to ride with locally, faster.

What do you think?

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yes to all of it.

my main goal has been to make folks better riders, and secondary to get satellite gk sessions happening on a regular basis.

here's some to go on that we have tried so far: there are no dimensions, but only because it's easier to Taylor tip larger bikes that way:

circle of trust (always first for new riders)

gp8 (gated)

the butterfly (people really like this one)

snake (advanced)

burnmuda (fast!)

can o pea (harder than it looks)

gozirra (haven't tried any of these on anyone else yet)

drunk monk

I only takes a minute to make up stuff on paint, then half an hour to ride out and see if it works.

As Vulfy says, there are quite a few internationally agreed timed obstacles and we are always interested in finding new and challenging designs. During our Practice & Play days we will usually set up an obstacle of the day from the catalogue and run some timed attacks on it just so that people can begin to get the measure of it. We typically do not make these of fixed dimensions, but just lay something out to suit the space and surface available.

A particular favourite is the 'cats cradle' an obstacle that consists of both straight and offset slaloms and a couple of rotations just to make it interesting.

It's the first obstacle being ridden in this video of Yoshinobu Shiga. It's made up of just 8 pylons, but as you can see from the way that Shiga-san attacks it, it's not short of challenge.

I've been thinkin of us posting vids of identical courses here before. But everything fizzled. C'est la vie. I think it's a great idea. Motivating no less.
Big thumbs up from me. Somebody has to be slowest. But proud to participate
We have no place to practice but could probably knock up a GP8 somewhere. Ain't done it for eons. Scary.

I reckon Mr Shiga would be quick on anything, anywhere. He is so fluid. Lovely riding style. That first obstacle could almost be a fertility symbol.

Just came from a scouting run for a new spot. A few really good lots, but non are accessible without security guards instantly calling police. Talking to management gave us the same old response, "no, liability".

Just came from a scouting run for a new spot. A few really good lots, but non are accessible without security guards instantly calling police. Talking to management gave us the same old response, "no, liability".

sigh

The search continues.

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talking to management will always lead to that response. every time.

if you're encountering security guards, get farther out of town. sheriff's deputies have a hell of a lot more sense, and things to do.

12 meters is around 39-40 feet.
3 meters is around 10 feet.
1 meter is around 3 feet

These are the dimensions I've been setting up. We haven't been concerned about cone height here in NY, as we've been using the low ones, and they are about the height of a cut tennis ball.

However taller cones do make a difference, as you have to account for that height when you are turning really close to them, in order not to knock them over. Since I'm carrying all the cones I need (around 300 of them) in my saddlebags, I opted out for the shorter ones since I can pack a lot of them, plus our location can get windy and tall ones start sliding around with gusts.

12 meters is around 39-40 feet.
3 meters is around 10 feet.
1 meter is around 3 feet

These are the dimensions I've been setting up. We haven't been concerned about cone height here in NY, as we've been using the low ones, and they are about the height of a cut tennis ball.

However taller cones do make a difference, as you have to account for that height when you are turning really close to them, in order not to knock them over. Since I'm carrying all the cones I need (around 300 of them) in my saddlebags, I opted out for the shorter ones since I can pack a lot of them, plus our location can get windy and tall ones start sliding around with gusts.